A/N: I had some extra time today and thought, "Well what the hey!" So here is the product of that! God bless!
"I hate him."
"No you don't, Korra."
"You aren't me, how would you know how I feel?"
The aged airbender raised an eyebrow at the girl's comment and gave her a small, wry smile, "Because you are forgetting that I am you."
The young Avatar released a long sigh of frustration, "Aang, you know what I mean."
"Yes I do," The deceased Avatar chuckled, "Because I am you."
"Aang!"
"Okay, okay," His blue figure held up its hands, the setting sun over the bay shining right through the wavering appearance of himself sitting in the meditation pavilion "Tell me what's wrong, Korra. I will try to guide you in any way I can."
"I've already told you, I hate him."
The older airbender shook his head at this, giving her an knowing grin, "No, you are in love with him."
"He makes me so angry."
"Love is hard when you are young," The man reminded her gently, recalling the words that had been spoken to him as a young monk head over heels himself, many years ago, "But don't worry it gets better."
"I need advice, not old airbending philosophies."
Aang shrugged his shoulders, his usual autumn colored robes now tinted blue as he danced between the line of the Spirit World and the real one, "That's not an airbending philosophy. It's what Roku told me when I first started having relationship troubles with Katara. We weren't even in a relationship then,
but I wanted to be."
Korra snorted at his comment, gaze fixated on the bay, "Well I'm in the relationship already and it just feels like one big mistake."
"Why?" The man asked her curiously, crossing his legs in a meditative pose, "Because Mako works too much? Because you feel like he's pushing you to the sidelines?"
Korra pouted, but nodded her head anyways, "Yes."
Aang sighed, thinking of what to say that would make the young Avatar see how silly she was actually being, "First off, I don't understand why you are calling me here for help. I'm not very good at relationships."
"Aang, you were happily married for decades."
The airbender gently smiled at the memories of those decades, but did not allow himself to get lost in his own mind, "Yes, I was. But we had a rocky beginning just like you, and even I don't know how we smoothed everything over. Misunderstandings are a main cause for the struggles in the beginning of a relationship, that and miscommunication."
"I don't have any trouble with communication."
The man raised his brows and rubbed a pale hand along his bald head where a powder blue arrow rested, "Yeah, the other Avatars and I have noticed that. You don't have a problem with communication," Aang gave her a sidelong glance before continuing, "But you do have an issue with communicating your own fears to yourself."
"I'm not scared of anything."
"You're scared of losing him," Aang said the words softly, so soft that it was as if they had been carried to her by a breeze. She froze momentarily in shock that he had hit the problem right on the head, but she remained composed while he continued on.
"You're scared he's going to get hurt, that he's going to get into trouble, that he's going to forget all about you," Aang shook his head now, gazing at Korra with slightly sad light eyes, "Korra, you are pushing him away and trying to tell yourself you hate him when in actuality, you feel the exact opposite. You are just scared of being scared."
Korra sat for a moment, staring at the man with pursed lips before she released a heavy sigh and muttered under her breath, "I really should have called on Roku."
"I'm not going to argue with that," Aang laughed, "I'm not exactly the expert on this."
They sat for a moment, bathed in the setting sun as its light shone over every inch of the island. A soft breeze blew through the trees and rustled their newly grown leaves. A small boat was making its way across the bay towards Air Temple Island.
"I just don't know what to do."
Aang gave her a near apologetic look before shrugging, "Love him?"
Korra rolled her cerulean eyes at the suggestion, wiping a hair away from her forehead in slight frustration, "That's great, Aang. Just let me try that."
The older Avatar sat still for a moment, his gaze on the wooden paneling of the floor as he tried to think of what to say. Suddenly, his head popped up as he realized exactly what Korra needed.
"Korra," The girl's gaze returned from the boat travelling at a slow speed towards them, to the man, "You have to make sure you don't complain about how much Mako works, or how much he enjoys his job, or how you fear he's going to forget you."
The young woman raised a dark brow, the tanned skin of her forehead wrinkling in response, "Weren't you just telling me I have communication issues?"
Aang shook his head, "But not with others, with yourself. Think about it, Korra. You are still training as the Avatar, but later on you are going to have even more responsibilities. You are going to have to travel a lot, you are going to have to work overtime multiple nights of your life, and you are going to have to attend a magnitude of meetings in your lifetime."
"I know that," Korra muttered frustrated, "What does that have anything to do with Mako?"
"I know from personal experience, Korra. All those duties and meetings and late nights, are much more bearable when I have someone to come home to."
This silenced Korra's argument, her face softening as she realized where Aang was going with this.
"You cannot complain about his line of work," The older Avatar continued, "Because one day, he's going to have to be in the same position. He's going to be sitting at home waiting and worrying about you, and I doubt this is the way you want him to think. I doubt you would want him to hate you just because you are the Avatar and must be shared with the world."
The young waterbender looked at him for a moment, blue eyes slowly gaining the understanding that Aang wanted her to come to.
"I love him."
"I know you do, Korra."
"It's just hard."
The man chuckled at her comment, nodding his head in agreement, "You don't have to tell me twice," He stopped laughing for a moment and gave her a reassuring grin, "But it honestly does get better. I wasn't lying when I told you that. If you had told me when I was 12 years old that I would marry Katara and have three beautiful children with her before later dying in the arms of her, content as can be, I would have laughed so hard they would have had to stuff me with monkey feathers just to get me to stop."
Korra chuckled slightly at the thought, "I'm sure that's exactly what they would have done"
The man gave her a warm smile before turning his head and watching the boat pull up to dock, a young firebender stepping off and on to the platform,
"I believe it is my time to go."
The girl nodded before reaching forward and pulling the blue apparition of Aang into a grateful hug, "Thank you, Aang."
The man pat her comfortingly on the back, "Anytime, Korra," He pulled back slightly, "No really, anytime. It gets so boring in the Spirit World!"
The young woman chuckled before standing, "I'll be sure to keep you posted than."
She turned to leave but Aang called her name and regained her attention.
Clearing his throat, a look of distant sadness replaced the one of good humor from earlier before, "Korra, if you don't mind," He looked down at his hands before continuing on, "Would you send my love to Katara and the children? And please don't forget my grandchildren as well."
The waterbender nodded, "Of course, I'll give you an Avatar promise."
"A regular promise would be fine."
The girl chuckled, "Alright than, I promise."
With a grateful nod, Aang slowly faded away until the meditation pavilion was empty of anyone but her.
Korra turned in the direction of the docks and noticed Mako tiredly walking up the steps to where she was. The young Avatar gave him a sympathetic smile knowing that he had just come from a hard day at work.
What Aang said was true. She was going to need someone to lean on later on in life, so she couldn't afford to be selfish now. With that thought in mind,
she rushed to him and slung his arm over her shoulder and gave him a tight hug.
"I love you."
The firebender tiredly smiled down at her before gently kissing the hairs of the top of her head.
"I love you too."
A familiar scene would play many years into the future, but instead it would be Korra coming home with a very sympathetic Mako running to greet her.